Connecting the North is good for Canada

Industry Canada’s decision to promote a fourth option for national wireless coverage comes at a crucial time for Canadians longing for cheaper service and more choice. This decision, however, will have little immediate impact on Canadians living in northern and remote communities, who should be first in line for reliable and affordable telecommunications so the North can seize its full economic development potential.

As Prime Minister Stephen Harper has emphasized during his Arctic tour, the development of northern communities will have a real impact on the future of the south, indeed for all of Canada. Economic development opportunities, such as in mining, oil and gas, will add much needed dollars to the national coffers. A critical part of economic and social development in the North is connecting it — sustainably — to other parts of the North, to southern Canada, and to the rest of the world.

Canada’s northern residents have a growing appetite for Internet applications. Just ask the increasing number of youth trying to gain course credits and professional certificates online. Or ask industry, whether it is a small business operating in a competitive environment or a major resource company. For many, bandwidth constraints and growing traffic volumes make using the Internet an exercise in frustration.

In Canada’s North, more competition will not necessarily fix the problem. Even under the best of circumstances, the distances, the climate and the scarce populations in northern regions make it difficult for free enterprise to deliver the reliable and affordable telecom services that people today need and want.

The North needs bigger pipes for all the data it is creating and consuming. Historically, government policies helped build the pipes — the backbone and backhaul networks that support northern telecom services and facilities. These pipes were and are shared. They support the needs of residents, public services, industrial development and even military operations.

Before the 21st century, the pipes to Canada’s inhabited Arctic and remotest aboriginal regions served narrow interests and were too small to support high-speed Internet access. Crucial federal programs, such as the National Satellite Initiative and Broadband Canada, helped local champions temporarily cover the high costs of accessing relatively bigger pipes over satellite, which opened up the creative potential of Canada’s remotest northern communities.

In the first decade of the 21st century, communities in remote northern regions such as Nunavut, Nunavik and Nishnawbe Aski used their new-found connectivity to demonstrate the possibilities of telemedicine, e-learning and new media production. By 2016, however, the program funds needed to achieve affordable bandwidth for Nunavut and Nunavik, and for isolated communities in northern British Columbia and Manitoba will be depleted — leaving the regions and communities once again vulnerable to economic forces beyond their control.

An average Canadian consumer in the provincial North pays $137 per month for a basic cellphone plan (200 to 250 local minutes), a home phone and high-speed Internet access (1.5 MBps). Provincial partnerships with northern carriers have helped extend bigger pipes to more northern communities, and kept the northern provincial average closer to average southern rates (e.g., $131 per month, according to a 2013 CRTC study). By contrast, Nunavummiut pay $171 per month for a similar basket of services.

Without federal contributions through programs such as the National Satellite Initiative and Broadband Canada, the lowest cost highspeed Internet package (1.5 MBps) for Nunavut residents could easily rise to 2½ times current prices (e.g., to $200 versus $80). The sharp contrast in consumer fees reflects the challenges of building bigger pipes in Canada’s remotest northern regions.

The federal government has shown that it is willing to shake up communications policy in southern Canada. It’s time for the next bold and forward-looking move — one that will, by all definitions, truly connect the North.